Red Sox: Penny hard-luck loser

ATLANTA — Tommy Hanson was very much aware of who he'd be facing in these two starts.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — Tommy Hanson was very much aware of who he'd be facing in these two starts.

It didn't faze him a bit.

The big Atlanta right-hander became the first NL rookie to beat the New York Yankees and Boston in consecutive outings, throwing two-hit ball over six scoreless innings yesterday to stifle the Red Sox.

The Braves got homers from Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson off Boston starter Brad Penny, who was the hard-luck loser in a 2-1 defeat.

The Braves snapped a four-game losing streak and prevented a Boston sweep in a weekend series dominated by pitching.

The teams combined for only nine runs in three games, and Hanson (4-0) sure kept it going, despite a bout with the flu that put his start in doubt even as he was riding to the ballpark with teammate Kris Medlen.

"I told Kris he'd better be ready to pitch," Hanson said. "I felt horrible waking up this morning. Driving to field, I didn't feel good at all. But once I got going, got my blood flowing, I felt a lot better."

The Red Sox would certainly vouch for that. They were limited to a pair of fourth-inning singles by the 22-year-old rookie, who has been compared to everyone from John Smoltz to Roy Halladay — after just five big league starts.

Hanson stretched his scoreless streak to 20 innings, including 5¤ innings against the Yankees last Tuesday. The Braves took that one 4-0, and didn't get another win until Hanson went to the mound again.

"If he was sick," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, "I really don't want to see him when he's not sick."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hanson was the first NL rookie to pull off the Yankees-Red Sox double.

"Facing them and getting two wins is definitely awesome, especially back to back," he said. "It's definitely been fun. Hopefully we'll keep on rolling and keep winning some games."

This might have been his most impressive showing yet considering his ailing body and having to start on a day when it was when it was 91 degrees at the first pitch and climbed higher through the afternoon.

Hanson threw 97 pitches, keeping the Red Sox off balance with a fastball in the mid-90s mixed with nasty breaking balls.

With two outs in the fourth, Jason Bay and David Ortiz has consecutive singles and Jason Varitek walked to load the bases. But Hanson escaped the jam with his 23rd pitch of the inning, a grounder weakly to second by Jacoby Ellsbury.

Hanson fanned his final hitter — Bay took a called third strike to end the sixth — and the Braves turned it over to the bullpen.

Peter Moylan escaped a seventh-inning jam caused by shaky Braves defense, getting Nick Green on an inning-ending double play with runners at first and third. Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect eighth, then Mike Gonzalez endured an eventful ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances.

The Braves botched a rundown, and Varitek kept it going by blooping a two-out, run-scoring single to center. With two strikes on Ellsbury, a fan ran on the field and had to be tackled by security.

After a delay of several minutes while the handcuffed man was hauled off, Ellsbury went down swinging to end the game.

Jones, mired in a 10-of-60 slump, took advantage when Penny (6-3) hung a breaking ball in the first, driving an opposite-field homer into the seats in left.

Anderson made it 2-0 in the fourth, driving one out in right for his fourth homer.

Penny pitched well, as did every starter through the weekend. He went six innings, giving up six hits, striking out two and not walking anyone.

"We lost the game, so there's no satisfaction in whether I'm pitching good," Penny said. "But it's nice to be healthy."

Penny grabbed his hand after bouncing a pitch in the first inning, bringing out manager Terry Francona and the trainer. Penny said his thumb popped out of its joint, but he simply snapped it back in, threw a couple of warmup pitches and was OK.

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